The Templeton Prize Templeton Prize Winner 2016 to be announced on March 2 » Wednesday, 2-Mar-2016 WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth who has spent decades bringing spiritual insight to the public conversation through mass media, popular lectures and more than two dozen books, has been awarded the 2016 Templeton Prize. Rabbi Sacks, 67, first gained attention by leading what many consider the revitalization of Britain's Jewish community during his service as Chief Rabbi from 1991 to 2013, a feat he accomplished in the face of dwindling congregations and growing secularization across Europe. During his tenure he catalyzed a network of organizations that introduced a Jewish focus in areas including business, women's issues and education, and urged British Jewry to turn outward to share the ethics of their faith with the broader community. Central to his message is appreciation and respect of all faiths, with an emphasis that recognizing the values of each is the only path to effectively combat the global rise of violence and terrorism.

In his most recent book, Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence, Rabbi Sacks writes: "Too often in the history of religion, people have killed in the name of the God of life, waged war in the name of the God of peace, hated in the name of the God of love and practiced cruelty in the name of the God of compassion. When this happens, God speaks, sometimes in a still, small voice almost inaudible beneath the clamor of those claiming to speak on his behalf.

What he says at such times is: ‘Not in My Name.'" Big Questions Videos - Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Templeton Prize | award | Britannica.com Templeton Prize Alternative Titles: Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries About Spiritual Realities Related Topics Booker Prize Templeton Prize, formerly Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries About Spiritual Realities, award presented annually to a living person who has “made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.” Though the prize is considered by some to be the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for religion, recipients may be of any profession, and emphasis is often placed on work that explores the intersections between spirituality and science. The Templeton Prize was established in 1972 by John Marks Templeton, an American-born financial entrepreneur who sought to advance human knowledge of the universe through a broad set of intellectual approaches and an ecumenical perspective on spiritual progress. Believing the spiritual domain to be no less significant than other areas of scholarly endeavour, Templeton stipulated that the prize’s purse always exceed that of the Nobel Prize.

Indeed, for many years the Templeton Prize was thought to be the world’s largest annual award given to an individual, and by 2009 the amount of its monetary gift had reached £1 million ($1.5 million). Sponsorship is provided by the John Templeton Foundation (founded 1987). Recipients of the Templeton Prize are chosen by a nine-member panel of judges, whose ranks have included a diverse range of political leaders, religious figures, and scholars. The prize’s inaugural honoree, in 1973, was the Roman Catholic nun and charity worker Mother Teresa , and many other early laureates, such as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , were recognized for work done on behalf of peace or social justice . Beginning in the 1990s, the prize was increasingly awarded to scientists—especially physicists, such as Freeman Dyson and Charles H. Townes —though some members of the scientific community criticized the prize for collapsing the distinction between religious and scientific inquiry. Templeton Prize winners are provided in the table. Templeton Prize winners John Templeton Foundation Additional Funded Initiatives ABOVE: (Left) Dr.

Holmes Rolston III with Sir John Templeton ABOVE: Rev. Dr. John C. Polkinghorne accepting the 2002 Templeton Prize from The Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace as Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., looks on. The Templeton Prize is the leading religion prize and among the world's largest monetary awards. Announced each spring at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City, the prize is awarded to a living individual who has shown extraordinary originality in research or discoveries to advance understanding of God and spiritual realities. Recent winners include Freeman Dyson, Arthur Peacocke, Sir John Polkinghorne and Holmes Rolston III. The Duke of Edinburgh presents the award at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The monetary value of the Templeton Prize is always set to exceed the Nobels to underscore Templeton's belief that benefits from advances in spiritual discoveries can be quantifiably more vast than those from other worthy human endeavors. Years ago, Alfred Nobel endowed a series of now famous and generous prizes for breakthroughs in fields like physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and even peace.

Nobel did not, however, endow a prize for religion, no doubt because he believed that no breakthrough in religion would merit such a prize. Sir John Templeton challenged the belief that there could not be breakthroughs or progress in religion in 1973 when he created the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, awarded annually to a living individual who has shown extraordinary originality in research or discoveries to advance understanding of God and spiritual realities. The Prize, now much more than $1 million, is funded to provide recipients with greater financial rewards than does the Nobel. The first person the foundation recognized for the pursuit of spiritual knowledge was Mother Teresa. I am fascinated by the quality of the candidates nominated for the Templeton Prize, says Dr. Bruno Guiderdoni, director of research at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris and one of several judges of the Templeton Prize. We see people come in from very different horizons with very different achievements in their lives.

Its the only prize in the world that allows these people to be a part of the great ideas that are going to influence this particular century. The prizes interdisciplinary nature, Guiderdoni notes, is its greatest strength. One of the problems we face in the disciplines is that the astronomers give the awards to the astronomers, or the preachers give the awards to the preachers. It seems that, in order to solve the problems, we need new ideas, he said. All of these people standing at the crossroads of the streams of sciencethe Templeton Prize gives them visibility they wouldnt have otherwise. The prize celebrates endeavors that lead to spiritual insights that increase humanitys precious store of spiritual information. Just as we value and expect a steady increase in our knowledge of medicine and technology, we must come to value and expect new spiritual insights and celebrate those thinkers that lead us to these insights. Through the centuries, many charities have focused on education, healing and helping the poor. Sir John prefers to encourage the concept that resources and manpower are needed to accelerate progress in spiritual discoveries, which can help humans learn vastly more about divinity.

The Prize is intended to help people see the infinity of the universal spirit still creating the galaxies and all living things and the variety of ways in which the creator is revealing himself to different people. Progress is needed in spiritual discovery as in all other dimensions of human experience and endeavor. Progress in religion needs to be accelerated as rapidly as progress in other disciplines. It is hoped that there will result from this enterprise expanded spiritual awareness on the part of humankind, a wider understanding of the purpose of life, heightened quality of devotion and love, and a greater emphasis on the kind of research and discovery that brings human perceptions more into concert with the divine will.  Everyone is welcome to submit nominations for the prize, which are then passed on to a panel of judges drawn from the major religions of the world. The judges consider the nominees contributions to progress made either during the year prior to their nomination selection or during their entire career. Contributions are evaluated in terms of their creativity, freshness, innovation and effectiveness. As the years have passed, nominees have grown more diverse in both background and vision. Dr. Baruch Blumberg, distinguished scientist at Fox Cancer Center and a Templeton Prize judge, says he admired prize recipients long before he became involved in the process.

It was given primarily to scientists who had a lot of insight and who wrote about religious topics and how science related to religion, Blumberg said. The most recent round of nominees was more inclusive and the applicants reflected that, too. After such a rich history, the foundation is now looking for ways to alert an ever-widening segment of the academic community to the opportunities the prize affords. Holmes Rolston III, for example, used the entire prize money he won in 2003 to help endow a chair in religion and science at his alma mater, Davidson College in North Carolina. I think some work has to be done to make the prize well-known on a worldwide scale, Guiderdoni said. Because of the quality of people who win the prize, slowly but steadily the prize is going to be known as much as the Nobel Prize is known in science, literature or peace. More important than the prizes financial cache or academic acclaim, though, is the synergy of ideas it creates. We need to encourage interdisciplinary approaches. We need new ideas. We need constructive engagement of ideas, Guiderdoni said.

Its very interesting to see, in the achievements of these people, what the big questions of humankind actually offer for the future. Templeton Foundation - RationalWiki Templeton Foundation — Daniel Dennett [1] The Templeton Foundation is a fundraising organisation that secures money to advance "progress in spiritual discoveries." [2] It was founded by businessman Sir John Templeton (1912-2008) and is currently headed by his son, Dr. Jack Templeton, who quit his medical practice in 1995 in order to work full time for the organisation. The Foundation acts a source of funding for numerous scientific studies to address what it calls the "Big Questions", such as genetics , "cognitive creativity" (whatever that is), and personal development. It is best known for the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities. Its aim in practice appears to be to corrupt the public discourse concerning science in the interests of religion , by swaying academics with much more money than they'd get any other way. Anything or anyone funded by Templeton should be viewed in this light. Of late, they have expanded beyond religion to funding climate change denial .

[3] Contents 4 References [ edit ] The Templeton Prize The Templeton Prize includes a monetary award of £1,100,000 sterling. It is given to a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. The prize has been given annually since 1983, when it misguidedly honored Mother Teresa for charity work, despite her actual work being to cause misery and suffering to poor and sick people in Calcutta while flying to Switzerland for her own medical care. Since then, the prize has been awarded to a variety of scientists and theologians selected as nominees for their "substantial record[s] of achievement that highlights or exemplifies one of the various ways in which human beings express their yearning for spiritual progress… affirming life's spiritual dimension". Although they claim to award it to anyone of any faith , any "creed" and "men and women alike" the majority of Templeton laureates are old, male, white and Christian . The 1992 laureate was Kyung-Chik Han, whose only qualification for the prize was spreading Christianity throughout South Korea .

Since the late 90s, there is a slight trend toward giving the prize to anyone who is a tenured professor but also goes to church occasionally. Arthur Peacock, who did some work on DNA in the 1970s, seems to have received the 2001 prize just for being ordained as a minister. In its own words: How might humankind's spiritual information and advancement increase by more than a hundredfold? This is the challenge presented by the Templeton Prize. Just as knowledge in science, medicine , cosmology and other disciplines has grown exponentially during the past century, the Templeton Prize honors and encourages the many entrepreneurs trying various ways for discoveries and breakthroughs to expand human perceptions of divinity and to help in the acceleration of divine creativity. Their various methods, particularly through scientific research, serve to supplement the wonderful ancient scriptures and traditions of all the world's religions. Many honors and titles and prizes have been given for many centuries and will be given in the future for good works, reconciliation, saintliness or for relief of poverty and sickness. But these very worthy endeavors are not the purpose of the Templeton Prize.

Instead, this award is intended to encourage the concept that resources and manpower are needed to accelerate progress in spiritual discoveries, which can help humans to learn more than a hundredfold more about divinity. We hope that by learning about the lives of the awardees, millions of people will be uplifted and inspired toward research and more discoveries about aspects of divinity. The Prize is intended to help people see the infinity of the Universal Spirit still creating the galaxies and all living things and the variety of ways in which the Creator is revealing himself to different people. We hope all religions may become more dynamic and inspirational. [ edit ] Money talks There are concerns that the Templeton Foundation is attempting to subvert scientific process by giving large sums of money with ideological strings attached. “”One Templeton official made what I felt were inappropriate remarks about the foundation's expectations of us fellows. She told us that the meeting cost more than $1-million, and in return the foundation wanted us to publish articles touching on science and religion.

But when I told her one evening at dinner that — given all the problems caused by religion throughout human history — I didn't want science and religion to be reconciled, and that I hoped humanity would eventually outgrow religion, she replied that she didn't think someone with those opinions should have accepted a fellowship. So much for an open exchange of views. — [4] Another critic, P Z Myers fears the Templeton Foundation blurs the edges between science and superstition . “”They have an agenda, and it is one of the most corrupting and untrustworthy causes of all, religion. They already know the answer, and they only want to pay for results that can be interpreted to bolster their unsupportable claims. Even if they are not asking that anyone fake evidence, we know that any line of inquiry that leads away from their desired answer will be abandoned, even if it is leading to the right answer. They are antithetical to good science. Such an organization exists: the Templeton Foundation. And, boy are they loaded, with a massive endowment and the willingness to throw large sums of money around. Scarily huge sums — the kind of money that will tempt even the most principled scientist to compromise a little bit.

— [5] Indeed, the Foundation spreads its largess to people and groups with good scientific credentials, is connected with well-respected scientific conferences, and advertises in scientific magazines. This tends toward giving spurious scientific respectability to its pseudoscientific agenda of fostering "spiritual discoveries." Jerry Coyne , also a prominent New Atheist , criticized the Templeton Foundation's attempt to reconcile science and religion as harming science itself: “”Templeton's mission is a serious corruption of science. Like a homeopathic remedy, it dilutes the core of the scientific enterprise, which has achieved its successes by holding doubt as a virtue and faith as a vice. The situation in religion is precisely the opposite, which is why theology remains mired in the Middle Ages . Trying to find accord between science and faith is like trying to harmonise astrology and astronomy , or medicine and homeopathy. It's a mug's game, one kept going largely by Templeton's constant infusions of cash. The Templeton Prize - Nomination Nomination Procedure While not intended to celebrate any particular faith tradition or notion of God, the Prize seeks to recognize new understandings in the quest for progress in humanity's efforts to comprehend the many and diverse manifestations of the Divine.

The Templeton Prize is awarded annually based on the decision of a panel of distinguished judges from various academic disciplines and religious traditions. We seek a diverse pool of worthy candidates and welcome nominations from around the world. The public at large is encouraged to participate in considering and then making formal nominations of worthy, appropriate candidates. The Templeton Prize also directly solicits nominations from academic leaders, theologians, scholars, and scientists. Nominators should consider that the Templeton Prize is not awarded for good works per se, such as humanitarian endeavors, but for a substantial record of achievement that highlights or exemplifies one or more of the various ways in which human beings express their yearning for spiritu al progress. Special care should be given to the Nomination Narrative written to substantiate the Nominee's works in relation to the vision of the Templeton Prize, as described below. Your nomination remains active over a period of five Prize years. You are encouraged to update your candidate's dossier at any time if matters of significance occur that would enhance your candidate's nomination. This should be done by contacting the Templeton Prize Office at info@templetonprize.org . An update will be sent to you annually at the contact information on record regarding the status of your nomination.

Click to review the 2018 Templeton Prize Nomination form THE 2017 NOMINATION PERIOD CLOSES ON JUNE 1, 2016 Nominations for the 2018 Templeton Prize will be accepted through Wednesday, July 1, 2017 at 11:00 PM EDT. Submissions will be accepted only through the use of the online web form. The following information is required to complete your nomination: The nominator's name, organizational affiliation, and valid email address The candidate's full name, gender, organizational affiliation, and contact information A narrative explaining why the candidate is worthy of consideration for the Templeton Prize. This narrative needs to be no more than 500 words per category explaining the candidate’s significant contributions to encouraging life's spiritual dimension. When writing your prize nomination narrative, please consider the criteria noted below. Realistically no single nominee will reflect every area noted; but on the whole, the nomination narrative should reflect the creativity, innovation, rigor and impact of the work of your candidate.

Please consider each of the following criteria in your written narrative and please carefully articulate how the nominee has effectively contributed to encouraging life’s spiritual dimension within each of the criteria specified below when writing your narrative, and define how the nominee's work is effective in the applicable areas: New Insights or Discoveries regarding Ultimate Reality or Divine Purpose - How has the individual made exceptional contributions to increasing our knowledge of the Divine, whether through insight, discovery or practical works? Describe the impact of the individual’s work and ideas on the theory or practice of spiritual dimensions, such as love, forgiveness, gratitude, creativity, infinity, ultimate reality and purpose in the cosmos? Entrepreneur of the Spirit - Does the individual capture the full meaning of being an "entrepreneur of the spirit" - someone who has contributed to "spiritual progress" by disseminating the results of scientific, philosophical or theological discoveries, by being a key influencer or exemplar, or by multiplying our understanding of the Divine. Advancing Human Flourishing - How has the individual’s work transformed the material and spiritual lives of those who have benefitted from their discoveries or practical works?

Whether the nominee is an academic, a thought leader or a humanitarian describe the spiritual dimension of their work and the impact their work has had on improving the human condition. A list of up to five relevant works (essays, book chapters, books, journal articles, lectures, interviews, blogs, or websites) that demonstrate the candidate's achievements or discuss the impact of the candidate's contributions to life's spiritual dimension. For those candidates with numerous publications, we ask that the nominator list only the works most relevant to the purpose of the Templeton Prize. A minimum of 3 (three) and a maximum of 5 (five) references who can speak to the qualifications of the candidate. We recommend listing the names of five references so that we may obtain letters from at least three references. Three references are required for a nominee to move forward. Please list their names, organizational affiliation, and full contact information, and most importantly, their email addresses. Nominators are strongly advised to contact the list of references submitted and alert them regarding your submission of their name as a reference.

The Templeton Prize office will contact each reference and ask them to submit a letter as to the named candidate's significant contributions in any one of several of the listed criteria that strongly pertain to the goals and purposes of the Templeton Prize. Letters of reference must be received or postmarked by August 7, 2017. NOMINATIONS WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD TO THE NEXT STAGE OF TEMPLETON PRIZE REVIEW IF THE CANDIDATE DOES NOT HAVE AT LEAST THREE LETTERS OF REFERENCE. The Prize staff will periodically send reminders to the Nominator and identified References on the status of the Reference letters. Staff will also communicate with the Nominator when the dossier is complete. The Templeton Prize 300 Conshohocken State Rd., Suite 500 West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428, USA 610.941.2828 phone Physicist Wins Templeton Prize for Progress in Re... | Christianity Today Physicist Wins Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion Freeman Dyson, midwife of Quantum Electrodynamics, futurist, and popularizer of science, honored for work on responsible science.

By Karl Giberson/ March 1, 2000 Physicist Wins Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion This slideshow is only available for subscribers. Please log in or subscribe to view the slideshow. Physicist Wins Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion Freeman Dyson, midwife of Quantum Electrodynamics, futurist, and popularizer of science, honored for work on responsible science. By Karl Giberson/ March 1, 2000 Alfred Nobel made a small fortune in the dynamite business and used it to endow a series of very famous and very generous prizes for "breakthroughs" in fields like Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Medicine, Literature and even Peace. Nobel did not, however, endow a prize for Biology, because it barely existed as a recognizable science during his lifetime. He did not endow a prize for mathematics, because, supposedly, his wife was having an affair with a mathematician. And he did not endow a prize for religion. Unlike the case with mathematics and biology, Nobel's failure to establish a prize for religion was not seriously questioned. No doubt many academics were convinced no "breakthrough" in religion would merit such a prize.

The belief that there could not be "breakthroughs" or "progress" in religion was challenged in 1972 by legendary Wall Street financier Sir John Templeton. Sir John, as he is known, has long believed and argued in a number of books that progress can be made in religion and he, quite literally, put his money where his mouth is, endowing the Templeton Award for Progress in Religion, which is awarded annually to "a living individual for outstanding originality in advancing the world's understanding of God or spirituality." The prize is funded to the extent that it provides the recipients with greater financial rewards than does the Nobel. Sir John envisages a global spirituality, with room for insights from all the world's great religions and a special place for scientifically informed visions of the meaning of human life. Previous winners of the Templeton Prize have included a cross section of individuals from a number of religious traditions. Mother Teresa was the first recipient in 1973. Since then many ... You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Templeton Report: Dalai Lama Wins Templeton Prize in Award's 40th Year Having trouble viewing this email?

Click here to view it online Share this email on Dalai Lama Wins Templeton Prize in Award's 40th Year VIDEO: Big Questions interviews with the 2012 Templeton Prize winner The 2012 Templeton Prize has been awarded to Tenzin Gyatso , the 14th Dalai Lama. The $1.7 million award was announced on March 29, in the 40th year of the Prize. The Tibetan spiritual leader is best known for his commitment to compassion, universal ethics, and harmony among religions. His spiritual inspiration speaks to millions. He also has an abiding interest in the interface between science and religion. He has focused on the investigative traditions within both science and Buddhism as a way to understand and advance what both disciplines might offer the world. His interest in the Big Questions, such as whether compassion can be taught , leads him to foster the use of scientific methods for the study of spiritual claims—an aim that the Prize has recognized for the past 40 years. (See online videos in which the Dalai Lama offers his answers to four Big Questions on the Templeton Prize website ).

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers a universal voice of compassion underpinned by a love and respect for a spiritually relevant scientific research that centers on every single human being," said Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. in a statement titled " 40 Years of Spiritual Progress & the 2012 Templeton Prize Laureate ." "These concepts, central to the teachings of His Holiness, are fundamental to the purpose of the Templeton Prize, namely, to encourage progress in the spiritual realm by calling attention to new research and new insights arising from investigating life's spiritual dimensions." Established in 1972, the prize identifies "entrepreneurs of the spirit." "The 2012 Laureate is befitting for the 40th anniversary of the Templeton Prize and mirrors extraordinarily well Sir John's own vision on spiritual progress," said Judith Marchand, director of the Templeton Prize. The award was widely welcomed in the world's press.

USA Today reported that the Dalai Lama "has been a voice for the complementary roles [of] science and religion." The Guardian noted that the award "could not have been more timely." Dalai Lama The Washington Post reported on the "Science for Monks" program, initiated by the Dalai Lama. It hosts Indian and Western scientists who wish to explore connections between science and Buddhist traditions. The Times of India highlighted a series of talks the Dalai Lama gave at Stanford University that led to the creation of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education . The American Association for the Advancement of Science noted that several thousand people came to hear him speak at the 2005 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The Wall Street Journal carried an interview with the Dalai Lama on teaching compassion. The Dalai Lama becomes the second Templeton Prize laureate who has also won the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Mother Teresa, the first winner of the Templeton Prize. Both figures are spiritual leaders like several other laureates , including Lord Jakobovits (1991), Billy Graham (1982), and Brother Roger (1974).

The award has also honored individuals from the world of science whose work has cast substantial light on spiritual questions. It is striking that, in recent years, this has drawn attention to a number of physicists, including Martin Rees (2011), George Ellis (2004), John Polkinghorne (2002), and Freeman Dyson (2000). Another group of winners are remarkable humanitarians, including Cicely Saunders (1981), the founder of the hospice movement, and the writer and exile, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1983). The 2012 Templeton Prize will be presented to the Dalai Lama on May 14, at a ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral, London. When he accepts his award, it will be the first time he has visited the cathedral. The Right Reverend Michael Colclough , canon pastor at St. Paul's, commented, "The awarding of the Templeton Prize to the Dalai Lama under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral will be a reminder that working towards peace and harmony is a practical and spiritual challenge to all faith communities." The ceremony is open to the public, though tickets are required .

From the Dalai Lama's statement : "This award, I feel, is your recognition about my little service to this field. I am very proud, very happy indeed, great honor. But at the same time, personally, when Nobel Peace Prize announced my name, at that time I expressed that I am no more, no less, just a simple Buddhist monk. So still, I am a simple Buddhist monk, no less, no more, after receiving this award. Of course more people may pay some attention about my talks, my thoughts, so in that sense, I think, very very helpful. You are helping my effort. Thank you very much." The Spirituality of Medicine ©istockphoto/Derek Thomas More than 9 out of 10 US physicians claim a religious affiliation. According to research conducted by Farr Curlin , associate professor of medicine and co-director of the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago, more than half of responding doctors agree with this statement, "My religious beliefs influence my practice of medicine." His work is supported by a $2.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

"Often religion is construed as a set of personal beliefs and ideas that threatens to prejudice a physician's practices or responses to patients, and interferes with physicians' professional obligations," Curlin explains. But is that true? Curlin and his team will try to find out, thanks to a new program to help faculty scholars study these questions. The Chicago Tribune carried an extensive report on the work earlier this month. "When doctors are dispirited, the care they give to patients is worse," Curlin said. "Patients should be very hopeful that their doctor sees their work as a remarkable privilege, even a holy privilege, that will make the doctor respond to that patient out of joy." Teaching Thrift with History ©shutterstock "A penny saved is a penny earned," Benjamin Franklin remarked. The virtue of thrift has a long history in American life. Franklin argued that it rests on three pillars: industry, frugality, and stewardship. PROGRESS IN RELIGION | Edge.org PROGRESS IN RELIGION A Talk By Freeman Dyson [5.15.00] I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension.

God may be either a world-soul or a collection of world-souls. So I am thinking that atoms and humans and God may have minds that differ in degree but not in kind. Introduction By John Brockman On March 22, 2000 the Templeton Foundation announced that physicist Freeman Dyson had won the 2000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. The Templeton Prize, awarded annually "to a living individual for outstanding originality in advancing the world's understanding of God or spirituality, is one of the world's largest monetary awards, this year valued at 600,000 pounds sterling, about $948,000. Created in 1972 by the pioneering global investor Sir John Templeton to remedy what he saw as an oversight by the Nobel Prizes, which do not honor the discipline of religion, the Templeton Prize is always set at an amount that exceeds the value of the Nobels. Previous Templeton Prize recipients include the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Charles Colson, Ian Barbour, Paul Davies, physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker, and Mother Teresa.

The following is the text of Freeman Dyson's acceptance speech on May 16, in the Washington National Cathedral. -JB FREEMAN DYSON is professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton. His professional interests are in mathematics and astronomy. Among his many books are Disturbing The Universe, Infinite In All Directions Origins Of Life, From Eros To Gaia, Imagined Worlds, and The Sun, The Genome, And The Internet Click here for Freeman Dyson's Edge Bio page PROGRESS IN RELIGION [FREEMAN DYSON:] First, a big thank you to Sir John Templeton and the administrators of the Templeton Foundation for giving me this undeserved and unexpected honor. Second, a big thankyou to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for supporting me as a Professor of Physics while I strayed into other areas remote from physics. Third, a big thank you to the editors and publishers of my books for giving me the chance to communicate with a wider public. Fourth, a big thank you to my wife and family for keeping me from getting a swelled head. And fifth, a big thank you to the Washington National Cathedral for allowing us to use this magnificent building for our ceremonies.

Sir John Templeton has told us clearly the purpose of his awards. They are prizes for Progress in Religion. But it is up to us to figure out what Progress in Religion means. Roughly speaking, there have been two main themes in the lives of the previous prize-winners. The first theme is practical good works, caring for the poor and sick, helping the dying to die with dignity. Outstanding among the doers of good works were Mother Teresa and Dame Cicely Saunders. The second theme is scholarly study and teaching, helping people who are committed to one religion or another to approach God through intellectual understanding, explaining to the uncommitted the logical foundations of belief. Outstanding among the scholarly prize-winners are James McCord and Ian Barbour. I am amazed to find myself in the company of these great spirits, half of them saints and the other half theologians. I am neither a saint nor a theologian. To me, good works are more important than theology. We all know that religion has been historically, and still is today, a cause of great evil as well as great good in human affairs. We have seen terrible wars and terrible persecutions conducted in the name of religion.

We have also seen large numbers of people inspired by religion to lives of heroic virtue, bringing education and medical care to the poor, helping to abolish slavery and spread peace among nations. Religion amplifies the good and evil tendencies of individual souls. Religion will always remain a powerful force in the history of our species. To me, the meaning of progress in religion is simply this, that as we move from the past to the future the good works inspired by religion should more and more prevail over the evil. Even in the gruesome history of the twentieth century, I see some evidence of progress in religion. The two individuals who epitomized the evils of our century, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, were both avowed atheists. Religion cannot be held responsible for their atrocities. And the three individuals who epitomized the good, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, were all in their different ways religious. One of the great but less famous heroes of World War Two was Andre Trocme, the Protestant pastor of the village of Le Chambon sur Lignon in France, which sheltered and saved the lives of five thousand Jews under the noses of the Gestapo.

Forty years later Pierre Sauvage, one of the Jews who was saved, recorded the story of the village in a magnificent documentary film with the title, "Weapons of the Spirit". The villagers proved that civil disobedience and passive resistance could be effective weapons, even against Hitler. Their religion gave them the courage and the discipline to stand firm. Progress in religion means that, as time goes on, religion more and more takes the side of the victims against the oppressors. For Ian Barbour, who won the Templeton Prize last year, religion is an intellectual passion. For me it is simply a part of the human condition. Recently I visited the Imani church in Trenton because my daughter, who is a Presbyterian minister, happened to be preaching there. Imani is an inner-city church with a mostly black congregation and a black minister. The people come to church, not only to worship god, but also to have a good time. The service is informal and the singing is marvelous. While I was there they baptized seven babies, six black and one white. Each baby in turn was not merely shown to the congregation but handed around to be hugged by everybody.

Sociological studies have shown that violent crimes occur less frequently in the neighborhood of Imani church than elsewhere in the inner city. After the two hour service was over, the congregation moved into the adjoining assembly room and ate a substantial lunch. Sharing the food is to me more important than arguing about beliefs. Jesus, according to the gospels, thought so too. I am content to be one of the multitude of Christians who do not care much about the doctrine of the Trinity or the historical truth of the gospels. Both as a scientist and as a religious person, I am accustomed to living with uncertainty. Science is exciting because it is full of unsolved mysteries, and religion is exciting for the same reason. The greatest unsolved mysteries are the mysteries of our existence as conscious beings in a small corner of a vast universe. Why are we here? Does the universe have a purpose? Whence comes our knowledge of good and evil? These mysteries, and a hundred others like them, are beyond the reach of science. They lie on the other side of the border, within the jurisdiction of religion. My personal theology is described in the Gifford lectures that I gave at Aberdeen in Scotland in 1985, published under the title, Infinite In All Directions.

Here is a brief summary of my thinking. The universe shows evidence of the operations of mind on three levels. The first level is elementary physical processes, as we see them when we study atoms in the laboratory. The second level is our direct human experience of our own consciousness. The third level is the universe as a whole. Atoms in the laboratory are weird stuff, behaving like active agents rather than inert substances. They make unpredictable choices between alternative possibilities according to the laws of quantum mechanics. It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom. The universe as a whole is also weird, with laws of nature that make it hospitable to the growth of mind. I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension. God may be either a world-soul or a collection of world-souls. So I am thinking that atoms and humans and God may have minds that differ in degree but not in kind. We stand, in a manner of speaking, midway between the unpredictability of atoms and the unpredictability of God. Atoms are small pieces of our mental apparatus, and we are small pieces of God's mental apparatus.

Our minds may receive inputs equally from atoms and from God. This view of our place in the cosmos may not be true, but it is compatible with the active nature of atoms as revealed in the experiments of modern physics. I don't say that this personal theology is supported or proved by scientific evidence. I only say that it is consistent with scientific evidence. I do not claim any ability to read God's mind. I am sure of only one thing. When we look at the glory of stars and galaxies in the sky and the glory of forests and flowers in the living world around us, it is evident that God loves diversity. Perhaps the universe is constructed according to a principle of maximum diversity. The principle of maximum diversity says that the laws of nature, and the initial conditions at the beginning of time, are such as to make the universe as interesting as possible. As a result, life is possible but not too easy. Maximum diversity often leads to maximum stress. In the end we survive, but only by the skin of our teeth. This is the confession of faith of a scientific heretic. Perhaps I may claim as evidence for progress in religion the fact that we no longer burn heretics. That is enough about me.

Let me talk now about the great transformations of the world that we are facing in the future. All through our history, we have been changing the world with our technology. Our technology has been of two kinds, green and grey. Green technology is seeds and plants, gardens and vineyards and orchards, domesticated horses and cows and pigs, milk and cheese, leather and wool. Grey technology is bronze and steel, spears and guns, coal and oil and electricity, automobiles and airplanes and rockets, telephones and computers. Civilization began with green technology, with agriculture and animal-breeding, ten thousand years ago. Then, beginning about three thousand years ago, grey technology became dominant, with mining and metallurgy and machinery. For the last five hundred years, grey technology has been racing ahead and has given birth to the modern world of cities and factories and supermarkets. The dominance of grey technology is now coming to an end. During the last fifty years, we have achieved a fundamental understanding of the processes occurring in living cells. With understanding comes the ability to exploit and control. Out of the knowledge acquired by modern biology, modern biotechnology is growing.

The new green technology will give us the power, using only sunlight as a source of energy, and air and water and soil as sources of materials, to manufacture and recycle chemicals of all kinds. Our grey technology of machines and computers will not disappear, but green technology will be moving ahead even faster. Green technology can be cleaner, more flexible and less wasteful, than our existing chemical industries. A great variety of manufactured objects could be grown instead of made. Green technology could supply human needs with far less damage to the natural environment. And green technology could be a great equalizer, bringing wealth to the tropical areas of the world which have most of the sunshine, most of the human population, and most of the poverty. I am saying that green technology could do all these good things, bringing wealth to the tropics, bringing economic opportunity to the villages, narrowing the gap between rich and poor. I am not saying that green technology will do all these good things. "Could" is not the same as "will". To make these good things happen, we need not only the new technology but the political and economic conditions that will give people all over the world a chance to use it. To make these things happen, we need a powerful push from ethics.

We need a consensus of public opinion around the world that the existing gross inequalities in the distribution of wealth are intolerable. In reaching such a consensus, religions must play an essential role. Neither technology alone nor religion alone is powerful enough to bring social justice to human societies, but technology and religion working together might do the job. We all know that green technology has a dark side, just as grey technology has a dark side. Grey technology brought us hydrogen bombs as well as telephones. Green technology brought us anthrax bombs as well as antibiotics. Besides the dangers of biological weapons, green technology brings other dangers having nothing to do with weapons. The ultimate danger of green technology comes from its power to change the nature of human beings by the application of genetic engineering to human embryos. If we allow a free market in human genes, wealthy parents will be able to buy what they consider superior genes for their babies. This could cause a splitting of humanity into hereditary castes. Within a few generations, the children of rich and poor could become separate species. Humanity would then have regressed all the way back to a society of masters and slaves. No matter how strongly we believe in the virtues of a free market economy, the free market must not extend to human genes.

A few weeks ago I was attending Mass in St. Stephen's church in England. In Princeton I am presbyterian, but in England I am catholic because I go to Mass with my sister. The reading from the gospel of St. Matthew told of the angry Jesus driving the merchants and money-changers out of the temple, knocking over the tables of the money-changers and spilling their coins on the floor. Jesus was not opposed to capitalism and the profit motive, so long as economic activities were carried on outside the temple. In the parable of the talents, he praises the servant who used his master's money to make a profitable investment, and condemns the servant who was too timid to invest. But he draws a clear line at the temple door. Inside the temple, the ground belongs to God and profit-making must stop. While I was listening to the reading, I was thinking how Jesus's anger might extend to free markets in human bodies and human genes. In the time of Jesus and for many centuries afterwards, there was a free market in human bodies. The institution of slavery was based on the legal right of slave-owners to buy and sell their property in a free market.

Only in the nineteenth century did the abolitionist movement, with Quakers and other religious believers in the lead, succeed in establishing the principle that the free market does not extend to human bodies. The human body is God's temple and not a commercial commodity. And now in the twenty-first century, for the sake of equity and human brotherhood, we must maintain the principle that the free market does not extend to human genes. Let us hope that we can reach a consensus on this question without fighting another civil war. Scientists and religious believers and physicians and lawyers must come together with mutual respect, to achieve a consensus and to decide where the line at the door of the temple should be drawn. Like all the new technologies that have arisen from scientific knowledge, biotechnology is a tool that can be used either for good or for evil purposes. The role of ethics is to strengthen the good and avoid the evil. I see two tremendous goods coming from biotechnology in the next century, first the alleviation of human misery through progress in medicine, and second the transformation of the global economy through green technology spreading wealth more equitably around the world. The two great evils to be avoided are the use of biological weapons and the corruption of human nature by buying and selling genes.

I see no scientific reason why we should not achieve the good and avoid the evil. The obstacles to achieving the good are political rather than technical. Unfortunately a large number of people in many countries are strongly opposed to green technology, for reasons having little to do with the real dangers. It is important to treat the opponents with respect, to pay attention to their fears, to go gently into the new world of green technology so that neither human dignity nor religious conviction is violated. If we can go gently, we have a good chance of achieving within a hundred years the goals of ecological sustainability and social justice that green technology brings within our reach. Now I have five minutes left to give you a message to take home. The message is simple. "God forbid that we should give out a dream of our own imagination for a pattern of the world". This was said by Francis Bacon, one of the founding fathers of modern science, almost four hundred years ago. Bacon was the smartest man of his time, with the possible exception of William Shakespeare. Bacon saw clearly what science could do and what science could not do. He is saying to the philosophers and theologians of his time: look for God in the facts of nature, not in the theories of Plato and Aristotle.

I am saying to modern scientists and theologians: don't imagine that our latest ideas about the Big Bang or the human genome have solved the mysteries of the universe or the mysteries of life. Here are Bacon's words again: "The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding". In the last four hundred years, science has fulfilled many of Bacon's dreams, but it still does not come close to capturing the full subtlety of nature. To talk about the end of science is just as foolish as to talk about the end of religion. Science and religion are both still close to their beginnings, with no ends in sight. Science and religion are both destined to grow and change in the millennia that lie ahead of us, perhaps solving some old mysteries, certainly discovering new mysteries of which we yet have no inkling. After sketching his program for the scientific revolution that he foresaw, Bacon ends his account with a prayer: "Humbly we pray that this mind may be steadfast in us, and that through these our hands, and the hands of others to whom thou shalt give the same spirit, thou wilt vouchsafe to endow the human family with new mercies".

That is still a good prayer for all of us as we begin the twenty-first century. Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect. Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance they bring both science and religion into disrepute. The media exaggerate their numbers and importance. The media rarely mention the fact that the great majority of religious people belong to moderate denominations that treat science with respect, or the fact that the great majority of scientists treat religion with respect so long as religion does not claim jurisdiction over scientific questions. In the little town of Princeton where I live, we have more than twenty churches and at least one synagogue, providing different forms of worship and belief for different kinds of people. They do more than any other organizations in the town to hold the community together.

Within this community of people, held together by religious traditions of human brotherhood and sharing of burdens, a smaller community of professional scientists also flourishes. I look out from the pampered little community of Princeton, which Einstein described in a letter to a friend in Europe as "a quaint and ceremonious village, peopled by demi-gods on stilts". I look out from this community of bankers and professors to ask, what can we do for the suffering multitudes of humanity in the world outside. The great question for our time is, how to make sure that the continuing scientific revolution brings benefits to everybody rather than widening the gap between rich and poor. To lift up poor countries, and poor people in rich countries, from poverty, to give them a chance of a decent life, technology is not enough. Technology must be guided and driven by ethics if it is to do more than provide new toys for the rich. Scientists and business leaders who care about social justice should join forces with environmental and religious organizations to give political clout to ethics. Science and religion should work together to abolish the gross inequalities that prevail in the modern world.

That is my vision, and it is the same vision that inspired Francis Bacon four hundred years ago, when he prayed that through science God would "endow the human family with new mercies".

Question: The Templeton prize is awarded annually for progress in what?
Answer: Religion